海角大神

It seemed like a 鈥淭op Gun鈥� encounter from a bygone cold-war era, when the Pentagon revealed this week that a US reconnaissance aircraft had been the target of a 鈥渞eckless intercept鈥� by a Russian fighter jet.

In one of the Russian jet鈥檚 more-provocative moves, the pilot maneuvered to flash the aircraft's underbelly to the US pilot 鈥� possibly in an effort, US military officials speculated, to show its weapons and signal that the jet was armed.

So does this mean Russia is spoiling for a fight with the United States? Probably not, defense analysts say 鈥� but the move was unusual, even in cold-war days.

The US military has long maintained an active electronic intelligence-gathering presence over the Sea of Okhotsk, which is between the eastern Russian mainland and the Kamchatka Peninsula. The April 23 encounter took place in international airspace above the sea, when the highly agile Su-27 鈥渇lanker鈥� fourth-generation Russian fighter jet flew 鈥渁cross the nose of the US aircraft, within approximately 100 feet,鈥� says Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.

The US aircraft in question was the RC-135U, one of two such surveillance aircraft in the Air Force inventory.

It was in the region because it is a rich fishing ground for electronic intelligence. The Russian Navy splits its assets between two primary bases: at Vladivostok, just east of Russia鈥檚 border with China and North Korea, and Petropavlovsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

鈥淭he Russian Navy is always running exercises up there, and we鈥檙e always trying to figure out what鈥檚 going on,鈥� says Christopher Harmer, senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.

The RC-135U could have been watching a Russian Navy exercise or scanning for other chatter, since Russia tends to concentrate its covert military research and development projects in its far eastern reaches, toward the peninsula. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we run out of there,鈥� adds Mr. Harmer, who formerly served as deputy director of future operations for the US Navy鈥檚 Fifth Fleet.

It is normal for the Russians to send a jet to let reconnaissance planes know they are keeping an eye on US military activities. US military fighter jets do the same thing when the Russians send their own reconnaissance aircraft to international waters off Alaska. 鈥淚t lets them know, 鈥榃e鈥檙e keeping an eye on you. We鈥檙e tracking your every move,鈥� 鈥� Harmer says.

鈥淒uring the cold war, it was routine anytime our reconnaissance aircraft was looking at them, or them at us, that we would be flying in formation in a very predictable way,鈥� he adds.

That tight formation flying helped keep miscalculations to a minimum, Harmer says. But the sort of 鈥渞eckless鈥� flying demonstrated by the Russian fighter jet represents a considerable potential for miscalculation and escalation.

鈥淲hen you start flying inverted and showing weapons, it鈥檚 like a tiger showing its teeth,鈥� he says.

There is little chance it was the reckless act of a showoff pilot, he adds: 鈥淩ussian pilots don鈥檛 do rogue.鈥� While US military pilots have a great deal of autonomy in how they choose to carry out the mission they are given, Russian pilots are 鈥渁lways being controlled,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a holdover from their communist days when they didn鈥檛 want a lot of initiative. Their military is a top-down pyramid: They don鈥檛 do anything unless they are told to do it.鈥�

The Russian military was probably interested in sending a message for President Vladimir Putin, who has recently been stressing that Russia, too, is a Pacific power, particularly as its economic options with Europe have been affected by the sanctions surrounding the Crimea crisis.

Indeed, Russia鈥檚 long-range aviation patrols 鈥渉ave increased dramatically鈥� since the invasion of Crimea, US Gen. Herbert 鈥淗awk鈥� Carlisle, commander of Pacific Air Forces, said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in early May.

Russian military aircraft have been seen frequently off the coast of California, as well as circumnavigating Guam, Carlisle said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a combination of things 鈥� to demonstrate their ability to do it, to gather intelligence in [US military] exercises with Japan and the Republic of Korea,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e relate a lot of that to what鈥檚 going on in Ukraine.鈥�

鈥淧art of it is just sort of pressing the envelope with us,鈥� says Andrew Kuchins, director and senior fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at CSIS.

This includes 鈥渓ots of concrete, substantive things as well as symbolic things that Russians are doing in response to what鈥檚 happened in Ukraine," including some "showing off,鈥� he adds.

鈥淎nother part of it is, 鈥楬a-ha, we don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e the power you used to be 鈥� and we鈥檙e back.鈥� 鈥�